Patrick George

Tucked away near a factory just north of Paris is a secret museum dedicated to maintaining the prestigious, innovative and offbeat history of French automaker Citroën. It's also closed to the public except upon request.

But somehow, perhaps through bribery, kidnapping or extortion (or probably just asking nicely) our pals at XCAR got to explore Le Conservatoire for themselves. Luckily for us, they brought their cameras along.

Among the rarest cars in the collection are four 2CVs built before World War II began, one of which has been restored and actually runs. There's also a Rosalie Cabriolet, the oldest DS in the world, and some examples of one of my personal all-time favorite cars, the Citroën SM. The museum also includes several race cars for which parts no longer even exist and many other gems.

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It's a shame Le Conservatoire generally isn't open to the public like the museums maintained by Porsche or Mercedes. I'd be there in a heartbeat if it was.